The promise made by Vice President of the United States of America, Kamala Harris to President Akufo-Addo that the United States will soon donate 1.3 million Pfizer vaccines to Ghana and the appeal to the government to find private capital for Pozzolana cement factory are some of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Graphic reports that the Vice President of the United States of America, Kamala Harris, has assured the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, that the United States will soon donate some 1.3 million Pfizer vaccines to Ghana.
This is in addition to some 1.2 million Moderna vaccines received by Ghana on 4th September 2021 from the United States.
Vice President Harris made this known on Thursday, 23rd September 2021, when she held bilateral talks with President Akufo-Addo at the White House, with the aim of stringing the ties of co-operation and friendship that exist between the two countries.
Addressing a press conference, prior to the holding of a closed-door meeting between the pair and their delegations, the American Vice President indicated Ghana and the United States share a commitment to global health and to minimise the effects of COVID-19.
“None of us have been immune from the ravages of the pandemic. We recognize our shared responsibility to collaborate, to share resources, to not only continue to address the effects of COVID-19 but also to prepare for the next pandemics,” she said.
She continued, “The United States is proud to be a member of COVAX and the African Union, and has donated more than 1.2 million doses of the Moderna vaccine to Ghana. I am proud to announce that, shortly, we will send 1.3 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine.”
Welcoming President Akufo-Addo to the White House, Mrs Harris indicated that the meeting with the Ghanaian President “is a reaffirmation of the strength of the relationship between the United States and Ghana, and of course we have deep in historical ties or official bilateral relationship began in 1957.”
The newspaper says that the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has appealed to the government to find means to attract private capital to the Pozzolana cement factory to complement the local building industry.
Officials of the BRRI said $4 million was currently needed to bring the factory at Gomoa to production capacity up to the current demand, particularly in the wake of recent cement price hikes.
This is besides the more than one million Ghana cedis pumped from internally generated funds so far.
The Director of BRRI, Dr Daniel Asenso-Gyambibi, told a 13-member Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology during a visit to the BRRI, the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) and the Crop Research Institute, all under the CSIR at Fumesua, near Kumasi, that the locally discovered Pozzolana cement had the added advantage of cutting down on carbon dioxide emission and helping to promote climate-friendly construction.
Dr Asenso-Gyambibi said beyond that the factory had the capacity to create hundreds of jobs and enhance safety in the building industry.
But the Chairman of the Select Committee, Dr Emmanuel Marfo, said BRRI needed to bring a statement on Pozzolana to Parliament for a debate to influence policy decision in its promotion and preference.
More importantly, he said, there was the need to bridge the communication gap between policy and science to demonstrate its relevance in solving the socio-economic problems to the political leadership or those who control the public purse.
Dr Marfo, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Oforikrom, said the 16 agencies under the CSIR could be doing some great work but perhaps were unable to properly communicate their relevance to attract the necessary support.
“Show government that you are relevant, especially in the area of climate change,” he said.
The Graphic also reports that the Ministry of Energy (MoE) is seeking tax waiver on electric vehicles to encourage their importation into and usage in the country.
In line with that, the ministry is in consultations with the Finance Ministry to provide incentives for owners and users of electric vehicles.
“We cannot take our climate change mitigation efforts for granted, and that explains why my ministry is working closely with the Ministry of Finance to secure import waiver for 100 per cent electric vehicles to help drive the penetration of the vehicles, while putting together other measures to ensure the sustainable utilisation of electricity,” the Minister of Energy, Dr. Mathew Opoku-Prempeh, said.
Dr. Opoku-Prempeh, who was speaking at a maiden E-mobility conference and exhibition in Accra yesterday, further said the government was also exploring the possibility of subsidising the certification of e-vehicles, as well as supporting the establishment of more charging stations for the vehicles.
It was on the theme: “E-Mobility in Ghana: Opportunity and challenges”.
Among those present were the Board Chairman of the Energy Commission, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu; the Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Mr. Kwame Agyeman-Budu, and a Deputy Minister of Trade, Mr. Fredrick Obeng Adom.
The Ghanaian Times says that gold prices dipped yesterday after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled easing its monthly bond purchases by next year and a sooner-than-expected interest rate hike, which could increase the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding bullion.
Spot gold was down 0.3 per cent at $1,762.33 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures slipped 0.9 per cent to $1,762.10.
In its policy statement on Wednesday, the U.S. central bank said it could start paring bond purchases as soon as November and that half of the Fed officials were ready to raise interest rates next year in response to inflation.
Gold is often considered a hedge against higher inflation, but a Fed rate hike would dull bullion’s appeal.
The dollar index hit a one-month high, diminishing gold’s appeal for those holding other currencies.
Fears of imminent contagion from China Evergrande’s debt crisis were temporarily soothed on Wednesday after the property developer agreed to settle interest payments on a domestic bond, while the Chinese central bank injected cash into the banking system.
Russia produced 173.99 tonnes of gold between January and July, down from the 176.30 tonnes it produced in the same period in 2020, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.
GIK/APA